Folding umbrella or parasol



No. 608,694. Patented Aug. 9, I898.

E. E. MALLDRY. FOLDING UMBRELLA or: PARASOL.

(Application filed May 12, 1897.) I

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No. 608,694. Patented Aug. 9, I898. E. E. MALLORY.

FOLDING UMBRELLA 0R PARASOL.

(Application filed May 12, 1897.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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ERNEST E. MALLORY,'OF WEST UNITY, OllIO.

FOLDING UMBRELLA OR PARASOL.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent N0. 608,694, dated August9, 1898.

Application filed May 12,1897. Serial No. 636,176. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: I Be it known that I, ERNEST E. MALLORY, acitizen of the United States, residing at West Unity, in the county ofWilliams and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Foldable Umbrellas or Parasols; and I do hereby declarethe following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in umbrellas or parasols of thatclass which are designed to be folded in a small compass for the purposeof easily packing the same in or on a satchel or otherreceptacle.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple construction of partsby which the umbrella may be easily and quickly folded into a compactcompass and in like manner unfolded or extended for service either as asunshade or to protect the user from rain and snow. I also aim to makethe ribs and stretchers practically rigid when the umbrella is openedfor service and to hold the same in steady fixed relation to each other,especially so in case of wind and when the umbrella is opened or closedwith the ribs extended their full length in the ordinary way.

My invention consists, first, in a novel construction of the staff witha swell at the place where the runner stops when the umbrella is openedor spread and with another swell at the lower end of the handle; second,in a runner having a plurality of spring-fingers to which the inner endsof the stretchers are pivoted; third, in a peculiar crown-piece or notchto receive the ends of the stretchers and the spring-fingers of therunner when the umbrella is folded in its most compact form; fourth, ina construction whereby the cover is attached to each rib on oppositesides of the foldable joint and between the crown-piece and the outerend of the rib, and, finally, it consists in the novel combination ofelements and in the construction and arrangement of parts, all as willbe hereinafter fully described and claimed.

To enable others to understand my in vention, I have illustrated thesame in different embodiments in the accompanying drawing which Figure 1is a vertical transverse sectional view through the umbrella in itsopened spread condition. Fig. 2 is a sectional View showing the umbrellawhen it is closed in the ordinary way with the ribs extended their fulllength. Fig. 3 is a perspectiveview of the umbrella when it is closedshort for storage or transportation. Figs. 4:, 5, 6, 7, and 7' are viewsof the runner, illustrating differentembodiments thereof. Figs. 8 and 9are views of the ribs and stretchers, showing the parts in their foldedand extended positions,respectively. Fig. 10 is a View of the preferredform of the notch or crown-piece. Fig. 11 is a detail sectional view ofthe sectional foldable staff.

Like letters of reference denote corresponding parts in all the figuresof the drawings, referring to whichi A designates the staff. 0 is thenotch or crown-piece. D are the ribs, which are attached to said notchor crown-piece; F, the runner, and H are the stretchers connecting therunner and ribs to serve, in my foldable umbrella or parasol, thepeculiar function of holding the ribs, which are made in jointedmembers, in rigid relation when the umbrella is adapted for service.

The staff A is sectional and provided with two swells a a. The uppersection A of the staff is formed to provide the swell a between thecylindrical parts a which correspond in diameter to the ordinarywell-known style of continuous staves in umbrellas commonly used, andthe swell a is produced in the staffsection A at the place where therunner comes to a point of rest when it is spread open for use. Thelower sectionA of the staff has the swell a provided thereon at theplace where the staff is to be grasped by the hand, and over this swella on the section A slides the tubular staff-section A which terminatesin a conical upper end a that is adapted to fit snugly on the swell awhen the tubular staffsection A is pulled down in extending the staffand handle for service, this conical end a of the tubular staff-sectioninsuring a tight or snug fit of said section A. on the section A Thetubular handle-section A of the staff formin a part of this s.ecification, and in 1 is adapted to be locked in place by springcatchesb b, which are fitted in kerfs provided in the staffsection A and areadapted to spring outwardly into slots 79 provided on saidhandle-section A one of the catches being arranged to lie practicallyflush with the tubular handle-section, while the other catch h isadapted to project for some distance through its slot in saidhandle-section A so that the catch 1) may engage with the runner to holdit in place when the umbrella or parasol is closed in the ordinary way.These catches serve to confine the handle-section A on the section Aagainst any rotary movement; but when the catches are depressed thesection A may be adjusted endwise, as required. The lower large end ofthe handlesection A is closed by a cap a, which may be screwed on thehandle-section or fastened thereto by catches or secured in any othersuitable way. When the staff A is to be shortened, the handle-section Ais slid upward along the staff-section A until the top a abuts againstthe end of the latter.

The sections A A of the staff are connected by a foldable joint in whichthe adjacent ends of said sections are beveled reversely, as at N, toenable them to lap one another when the sections are brought intoalinement. These beveled adjacent ends of the staff-section are slottedor kerfed, as at b to receive the ends of an adjustable coup- 1ing-plateb the thickness of which is such that it may be fitted in the kerfs. Theends of this flat coupling-plate are pivoted at b to the adjacent endsof the staff-sections A A and the joint is covered by a slidable ferruleor thimble B, the diameter of which is such that it fits snugly on thesmall parts of the staff-sections between the swells a a thereof. Thisferrule or thimble serves to hold the staff-sections A A in rigid lockedrelation when it is adjusted across the foldable joint between saidstaff-sections, and said thimble may be moved down on the staffsection Ato clear the joint and enable said staff-sections to be folded together.The upper staff-section A has a catch 11 fitted in a kerf orgroovetherein, and it is arranged in the vertical plane of the catch Z) in thestaffsection A so that said catches Z) or b may be engaged with therunner F, according as the latter is lowered or raised 011 the staff tohold the umbrella in its closed or opened positions, said runner beingprovided with a slot or notch f to receive said catches.

The crown-piece O is of peculiar form to serve as a means for theattachment of the upper ends of the ribs, and when the umbrella isfolded to its compact condition the inner ends of the stretchers and theupper ends of the spring-fingers on a runner are adapted to be inclosedor housed within said crown-piece. The crown-piece is made in a singlepiece of metal, of enlarged hollow form, and of such diameter as toreceive the stretchers and runner-fingers.

As shown in the drawings, the crown-piece may be bell-shaped, attachedto the staff at its upper end, and open at the lower end, so as to leavea space 0 of sufficient area to receive the upper ends of the stretchersand the spring-fingers on the runner when the umbrella is compactlyfolded. I do not, however, desire to limit myself to the particularbell-shaped form of the notch or crown-piece, as it is obvious that thenotch may be square or other shape. While the shape is immaterial, Iprefer the bell shape, because it serves the purpose of inclosing thespringfingers and stretchers without unduly increasing the size of thecrown-piece, and it gives a neat finished appearance to the umbrella.The notch serves as a protection to the fabric or cover from being wornand frayed by the pressure and rubbing of the stretchers andspring-fingers when closed short, and it also serves its usual capacityin providing a means for the attachment of the upper ends of the ribs,for which purpose the lower edge is notched, as at c, to receive theribs and the usual wire or ring 0, by which the ribs are pivotallyattached to the notch or crown-piece.

If desired, the fabric may have the usual protective cap, of leather orother material, applied to the outside thereof to protect the same fromthe rubbing action of the pivoted ends of the stretchers; but as this isusual in umbrellas I have not deemed it necessary to illustrate thesame.

The ribs D are arranged in the usual way and attached, as described, tothe notch C; but in my present invention the ribs are made in sectionsjoined to insure the lower sections folding upwardly and outwardly overthe upper sections, which are pivoted to the notch, and the joints ofthe rib-sections are so arranged and the stretchers are so combinedtherewith that the sectional ribs are locked against turning movement atthe middle joints when the umbrella is used in the ordinary way, bothwhen opened for use or when closed against the staff, so that to allintents and purposes the ribs under normal conditions are equivalent tothe ordinary single-piece ribs, and the joints in the ribs are onlyavailed of when the umbrella is to be closed short and compactly forstorage in a satchel, &c. To these ends I construct each rib in twosections, (indicated at D D of which D represents the upper section,pivoted, as described, to the notch C, while D represents the lower orouter section, which is pivotally attached in a peculiar way to thelower end of the upper section D. I prefer to pivot the lowerrib-section D at a point near its upper end, but at some distance fromsaid upper end, to the lower extremity of the rib-section D, the upperextremity of the section D above its point of pivotal attachment to thesection D, forming a short arm, (represented by the letter (Z in thedrawings.) The pivot or joint between the rib sections is represented atd, and it is made in the ordinary way of umbrella-joints-a'. (2., by aclip having perforated ears, between which is pivoted the end of therib-section D. The joint cl is arranged to allow the arm cl to bearagainst the lower edge or side of the rib section D when the sections Dare extended in the use of the umbrella in the usual way, and said jointd also allows the lower section to fold or turn outwardly and upwardlyover upon the rib-section D when the umbrella is to be closed short.

In umbrellas as ordinarily constructed the length of the stretcher isthe same as that part of the rib between the points of its attachment tothe notch and the stretcher. Consequently the stretcher could not passupward. To overcome this objection, I make the staff with the swell aand provide the runner F with spring-fingers G, to which are attachedthe inner ends of the stretchers H. The swell in the staff and thespring-fingers on the runner allow the stretchers to shorten when therunner is moved upward past the swell in the act of adjusting the partsto shorten the umbrella and allow the same to eollapse,whereby thestretchers are shortened by compressing the spring-fingers inwardly uponthe staff above the swell thereon. The swell Ct in the staff may be madelarger in diameter than the diameter of the notch or crown-piece, whichallows the stretchers to be made shorter than the length of the ribbetween the notch and the joint d, thus enablin g the runner to passupwardly above the swell a with less friction, as a part of the lengthof the stretcher is assumed by the swell in the staff.

The runner consists of a metallic thimble or ,sleeve and the series ofspring-fingers G, which extend upwardly from the solid part of thethimble or sleeve. The body of the runner has a slot, as described, toreceive either of the catches Z) or Z2 to hold the runner in place onthe swells a a of the staff either when the umbrella is opened orclosed. The body of the runner and the fingers may be made or struck upfrom a single piece of sheet metal, or the fingers may be made separatefrom the body, to which they are united or fastened in any approved way.There are as many of these spring-fingers as there are stretchers; buteach finger is separate and distinct from every finger, so that it hasfree movement or play. The tendency of the spring-fingers is to inclineinwardly toward the axial line of the runner and toward the staff, butthis tendency is counteracted to some extent by the pull of thestretchers and by the internal pressure of the swell of the staff. Thesefingers and the peculiar form of the staff enable the stretchers to bedrawn inward around the staff to such an extent that the fingers and theinner ends of the stretchers may be brought within compass to be thrustinto the bell-shaped notch in order that the latter may house the sameand pro tect the fabric or cover from wear due to the rubbing orfriction of the stretchers thereon.

In case of wind it is possible that the inner end of the stretcher wouldpull away from the staff when the umbrella is opened, due to the factthat the stretcher is pivotally attached at g to the free end of one ofthe elastic fingers of the runner, and in this event the cover, with theribs and stretchers, would become inverted or turned upward. To overcomethis objection, I have provided means which when the umbrella is inservice operate to hold the springs in rigid relation to the staff; butthis locking means may easily be adjusted by hand to free thespring-fingers and enable the latter to give under the pressure of thestretchers and ribs, so that the runner may partially collapse to foldwith the stretchers into the umbrella-notch. In the preferred embodimentof this part of my invention (shown by Fig. 5) the locking means for thefingers consists of a slidable ring I, which is arranged within thespring-fingers and which is slid ably connected therewith, as by anoutside keeper 2', which is attached to the ring I and is shaped toindividually embrace the fingers. Such construction enables the lock tobe moved endwise away from the body of the runner up to the free ends ofthe fingers, so that the lock will prevent the fingers from havinglateral movement either toward or away from the staff. Consequently thefingers cannot be pulled outward by the stretchers when the wind blowsagainst the cover in a direction to invert or turn the umbrella insideout. The slidable locking-ring may re main in its raised position undernormal conditions of use of the umbrella; but it may be lowered towardthe runner to free the springs when the umbrella is to be folded in itscompact form. The other embodiment of the runner (shown by Figs. 6 and7) is somewhat simpler and easier made in that it is not slidablyconnected to the fingers. In this case the fingers are made of taperingform, which increases their strength and gives thereto a tendency tolengthen the runner, which in creased length tends to keep the runner inline with the staff. The sliding ring is simply fitted around theoutside of the fingers to slide upward thereon, so as to keep them fromspreading outward under the pull of the stretchers when the wind blows;but such a ring as shown by Figs. 6 and 7 does not keep the fingersspaced apart, although the width of the springs, where attached to therunner, tends to overcome in a measure this objection In case it isrequired to hold the locking-ring in place a catch can be provided orthe ring can be made to fit tight 011 the fingers.

One feature of this umbrella is to have the barrel of the runner stop asfar from the notch as possible when the umbrella is opened, so that whenthe umbrella is closed short the stretchers do not have to break soshort over the barrel of the runner to allow the lower IIO ends of theupper section of the ribs to lie close to the staif. In this case it isnecessary to lengthen the spring, and such a construction is providedfor in Fig. 7 of the drawings, in which the runner is shown as having aconical lower end It, adapted to go up to and fit on the staff-swell awhen the umbrella is closed short. This form of the runner is such thatit does not pass above the swell in the staff, and this is advantageousin that it is not necessary to make the handle-section A as large as theswell a and enables a reduction in the length of the swell. It will beseen that the conical lower end h of the runner would be the length ofthe fingers below the swell when the umbrella is open, and the fingerswould have to be as long as the distance from the swell to the crown, sothat when the conical end h was forced up the staff to the swell theends of the fingers and stretchers would be inclined within thecrownpiece. This enables the swell a, in the staff to be very short.

The runner shown by Fig. 7 has the slidable locking-ring to hold thespring-fingers rigid when desired.

In Fig. 7 of the drawings I have shown another construction of therunner which enables the staff to be of any size from the bottom end orhandle-section to the point where the top ends of the runner-fingersstop when the umbrella is opened; but from this point to the notch orcrown-piece the staff should be as small as possible and allow the innerends of the stretchers to cluster around it as they pass up to the staffin closing the umbrella short. This is advantageous. in that the stafffrom the notch to the point where the runner shown by Fig. 7 stops whenthe umbrella is open should be as small as possible; but from this pointdownward the staff may be of any size. The runner of Fig. 7 affords along barrel is, which helps to keep the runner inline with the staff,and, as explained, the whole staff can be made large or small andornamented to suit the taste or appearance. This runner has theelongated barrel united to an enlarged flanged rim 7a, to which thelower ends of the spring-fingers are united,and said runner has aslidable locking-band consisting of a perforated plate a rim 70 and ashort sleeve 70, the whole arranged so that the sleeve will fit on thebarrel of the runner and the spring-fingers will be held apart by theplate 70 of said locking device. This locking device can be allowed toremain at the upper ends of the springfingers while the umbrella is ingeneral use and only adjusted to the bottom of runner when the umbrellais closed short.

The stretchers H are pivoted individually to the upper ends of thespring-fingers, as at g, and the outer ends of the stretchers arepivoted to the rib-sections D at points within the joints d between therib-sections, so that the outer ends of the stretchers may be engagedwith the arms d of the lower rib-sections .D to lock the sections D D inalinement with each 7 other. The outer end of each section is providedwith an enlarged headh, a part of which is cut away to make it occupy aneccentric relation to the pivothole therein, and this head 72, is fittedbetween cars it, provided on the rib-section D at a point above thejoint (1 between the sections D D the stretcher-head 72/ being pivotallyattached to the cars it by a transverse pin h'. The pivotal attachmentof the stretcher to the ribsection Dis a point above the joint cl nearlyequal to the length of the arm 61 on the lower rib-section, and when therib-sections D are turned down into line with the section D theeccentric head it on the stretchers bears against the arms cl of therib-sections D thus holding the parts in alinement an d againstcollapsing, to enable the umbrella to be used in the ordinary way. When,however, the umbrella is to be closed short, the runner is forced up thestaff past a swell a thereon, and the stretchers force the fingers Grinward, thus bringing the heads h of the stretchers in such positionwhen the stretchers fold inward on or toward the staff as to enable thearms cl to clear the heads 72. of the stretchers and to permit therib-section D to fold outward and upward over upon the ribsection D,thereby compactly folding the umbrella.

In ordinary umbrellas the covers are drawn taut from end to end of therib, the result of which is that the latter act has a bow to have atendency to force the-center of the rib toward the staff. This may notbe observable in an umbrella each rib of which is continuous; but itwill be seen that in an umbrella the ribs of which are jointed thepoints in the cover at which it can be fastened to the ribs would orcould change position on the rib when the device is folded short-thatis, the cover could slip along the rib away from the hinge clin whichevent the cover would prevent the ribs from turning to their normalpositions until the fastenings were each slipped back to its properplace. To overcome this objection, I provide the rib with eyelets 7' j,attached to the rib-sections D D on opposite sides of the joint cl, andto these eyelets are fastened the cover by threads or any other suitablemeans, as at j This construction enables the cover to be drawntaut fromthe lower end of sections D to the eyelet j below the joint cl andlikewise drawn taut from the eyelet j on' section D to the crown-piece,thus leaving a short slackspace at 7' in the cover between the eyelets jj and over the joint d. This slack space 3' is sufficient to lie smoothand put under proper tension when the umbrella is opened and the coverstretched thereby.

Having thus fully described my invention,

what I claim as new, and desire to secure by ferentially from thecylindrical part of the staff and is situated below the crown-piece, arunner formed of flexible members which constitute the inner surface ofthe runner and are adapted to ride upon and be pressed outwardly bycontact with the staff-swell, and stretchers attached to the flexiblemembers of said runner, as and for the purposes described.

2. The combination of a staff having an annular swell or enlargement atthe point where the runner is arrested when the umbrella is opened, arunner provided with a series of yieldable fingers forming, in part, theinner surface of the runner and adapted to ride upon the swell orenlargement of the staff, a series of jointed .ribs, and stretcherspivoted to the ribs and to said fingers of the runner, the wholearranged and combined for service, substantially as described and forthe purposes set forth.

3. In an umbrella, the combination of a staff having a swell orenlargement intermediary of its length, a hollow notch secured to saidstaff a prescribed distance from or above said swell, a runner having aportion of its length adapted to yield or spread outward by the actionof said swell or enlargement at a certain point in the upward movementof said runner, ribs connected or pivoted to said notch, and stretchersconnected to said ribs and to the yielding portion of said runner, toenable said stretchers and runners to lie closely to the staff as therunner is moved said flexible fingers and adapted to move radially assaid flexible fingers are acted upon by said swell, to exert pressureupon said ribs, and a slidinglocking band or ring adapted to act uponsaid fingers, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presenceof two witnesses.

ERNEST E. MALLORY,

Witnesses:

W. CLAY, GEo.-O. RINGS.

